1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking and, more specifically, to a rack configured to enhance the supporting of food items in optimal locations for cooking operations, particularly the supporting of bread or the like to be toasted in an oven.
2. Discussion of the Art
Typically, cooking appliances designed for household use are provided with one or more racks for supporting food items to be cooked within an oven cavity. The oven cavity itself is generally provided with side wall rails for supporting respective lateral sides of the rack, while permitting the rack to be vertically adjusted. That is, the rack can slide along a selected set of support rails for movement into and out of the oven cavity, with the rack also being removable for cleaning or for repositioning at a different height.
Oven racks are often of wire frame construction. More specifically, a typical oven rack would be defined by an outer wire frame and a support platform constituted by a plurality of fore-to-aft and laterally spaced wires. The wires are substantially evenly spaced across the entire rack for use in supporting food items to be cooked.
A substantial amount of effort has been placed in the past on providing uniform heating within an oven cavity. Despite these efforts, it is substantially inevitable that hot spots will be created. This situation is particularly prevalent in connection with electric cooking appliances wherein heat for a cooking operation is developed through the use of an electric heating element, such as a sheathed resistance coil type heating element. With this arrangement, radiant heat is inherently somewhat concentrated in the vicinity directly above the heating element.
Due to this fact, advantages can be obtained in positioning food items in optimal positions upon a rack. For example, it can be quite advantageous to arrange bread substantially directly above a heating element when performing a toasting operation within an oven cavity. Despite this knowledge, food items to be cooked are typically placed in a central support location upon a rack by a consumer, regardless of the particular cooking operation to be performed.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for an oven rack constructed in a manner which directs a consumer to place food items to be cooked in optimal locations upon the rack such that improved cooking operations, particularly toasting operations, can be performed.